Aristograrian
Aristograrian or Aristo-Agrarian strategy is a common strategy in FFH2 which combines the powerful civics Agrarianism and Aristocracy so that (with Sanitation) a Farm on a Grassland tile produces a net 4 /2 (4 /3 if on a river), which is much stronger than an early cottage or hamlet due to the food bonus. This can be leveraged into more commerce/production/Great People Points (GPP) faster. In Multiplayer, this has the added bonus of being more robust to enemy pillaging: whereas once a Town is pillaged, it needs 10+20+40 turns (on Normal speed) to grow back from a Cottage, a Farm can immediately be rebuilt and the full benefit is quickly recovered. Financial leader have a good sinergy with Aristograrian due to the immediate +1 on every farm. Comparison with Cottage Economy In Aristograrian there are no production cities because every city is working farms, every city is getting gold from farms and every city has enough surplus food to work a lot of hills/forests. This is different from needing designated cottage citys and farm/mine cities. Cottage slowly mature in Town giving an avalanche effect in the late game. Aristo-farms does not mature, but the specialist they support will give several GPP. Ammassing great pepole will have an avalanche effect, particularly Great Merchant in the gold city, Great Sages in the Science city and Engineer in the wonder city or disributed. Specific Civilization There are several civs for which aristograrian is NEVER the right decision # Cardith (God-King is almost necessary; enclaves are better than aristo-farms) # Lanun (the land is for production; commerce comes from the sea) # Elves (ancient forest cottages are the way to go) Calabim Govenor's Manor gives +1 per , effectively converting population in production. In addition, vampire's Feast ability sacrifice population for experience. So big, fast grwoing cities are particularly attractive, dictating Agrarianism as mandatory. Elves The strong point of the elven nations is to build improvements on forest. Due to forestation, every tile is making at least 1 hammer: the hammer penalty of Agrarian is not acceptable. Lanun Lanun have a competitive alternative to aristograrian with seafood/pirate ports. Foreign Trade works well with 100% :science: as the Lanun, where all your cities are coastal and your :food: is primarily from water tiles (and so you need to use every land tile to yield :hammers:, thus making farms undesirable). Aristograrian is for life Once you go aristograrian, you can't ever switch back... Strong points of Aristorcacy * Aristocracy commerce comes much earlier * Aristocracy maintains a better overall growth/production ability * Aristocracy allows access to a ridiculously useful civic only unit, Royal Guard * Aristocracy involves no culture penalties or war weariness penalties * Aristocracy is not found at a dead end tech * Financial-Aristocracy: a Finatial leader will leverage Aristocracy with +1 commerce The drawback of Aristocracy is food production, but in early game you have a very high food surplus, a low happy cap and the best city spots are already taken. All those circumstances make it ideal to trade food for commerce at this point in time, to unlock advanced techs. Strong points of Agrarianism Having a huge food production has several benefit: * Fast city growth * Fast infrastructure growth: the abundant food procuces Workers faster * Fast expansion: the abundant food procuces Settler faster * Ability to work high production, low food tiles like a mined hill, a lumbermill or a workshop * Ability to run specialists * Population avaliable for whip (slavery) or feast. So you get Population, Workers and Settlers faster and you will work more tiles/improving tiles faster. Unlimited specialist civics Some civics give unlimited specialist, and are necessary in mid to late game to use the huge food surplus. * Theocracy (Religious Law) Unlimited Priest * Scholarship (Arcane Lore) Unlimited Sage, +1 Beaker per specialist * Guilds Unlimited Bard, Sage, Merchant, and Engineer Also of interest to leverage specialist economy: * Caste System +1 and +2 per specialist * Liberty +1 Free Specialist per city * Pacifism +50% Birth Rate In example, with a civic asset of Aristocracy/Schlarship/Guilds/Agrarianism the food surplus may be well used for production or commerce. Scholarship may be substiuted by Liberty or Pacifism. Aristocracy/Scholarship/Caste System/Agrarianism work best for research. Aristocracy/Sac the Weak/Guilds/Agrarianism huge cities Turinturambar, a champion of Aristograrian strategy, in the late game usually switch out of aristocracy with a nonfinancial civ once he get one of the unlimited specialist civics. Research rate takes a hit, but FFhs lategame techs are mostly of marginal utility compared to the earlier ones and more food turns all cities into production powerhouses with either an alter/priest theocracy combo, or guild of hammers/guilds/engineers. Cottages are a noncontender: even at their peak it is highly debateable whether they are better than a farm and it takes them 40 turns to even catch up with aristo farms commercewise. Given that an aggressive aristo economy tends to need ~150 turns to get all the useful techs from the tech tree after researching education, it is simply not worthwhile to invest in cottages. Science Production If you run lots of Sages you can get a return of 1.5 commerce and 1.5GPP per unit of food. So, Grassland Cottage/Town vs. Grassland Aristofarm is 2/0/1 or 2/0/4 vs. 3/0/2+1.5+1.5GPP. Alternative Government/Economy civics Aristoagrarian is a strong civic combo, but it has to be clear the alternative in every civic type. The stronger alternative in the late game, with maximised tech and mature cities, is Republic/Foreign Trade. Also God King/Agrarianism is used. Some player think that Agrarian without Aristocracy is more effecient for production, due to penalty on plain farmed tiles. Farms produce more which allows you to work more :hammers: tiles like mines or lumbermills. Aristocracy actually slows down settler and worker training, especially compared to God-King. But farms without Aristo make no gold, so alternative sources has to be found. Government In the governemnt line there are several alternative to Aristocracy: City States, God King, Theocracy and Republic. * City states may be mandatory for very large empires, or scattered ones. * God King may be mandatory for very small empire, and in every case a city is so strong to compensate for the alternative. In combination with a holy city and Bazar of Mammon, the God King may provide the commerce you loose from farms. * God King is early available but maintain a high value in every phase. * Theocracy has his use * Republic is very strong in the late game. Alternativ Economy Civics * Foreign Trade is very strong in late game, so strong that if the game go along for too long, you may find regretting the decision to bind yourseft to Agrarianism. * Mercantilism is great with a 0% science economy, especially in conjunction with a civic that enables gold to buy production. Other Economy option Conquest, Guardian of Nature are bonded to particular circumstances. Tech To set Aristograrian the player has to research Calendar and Code of Laws. * Agriculture, Calendar Agrarianism * Ancient Chants, Education, Code of Laws Aristocracy And to unleash the full power of farms: * Crafting, Mining, Construction Farms spread irrigation * Mining, Bronze Working, Sanitation Farms +1 . To boost economy: * Trade, Currency +1/+1 Trade Route per City, Bazaar of Mammon (and Inn and Money Changer) If a player has necessity to found one of the 3 early religions, the amount of tech needed to setup Aristograrain economy is a disadvantage. But founding religions is overrated anyway. The heroes are the important part and most of them are tied up in later techs. If someone cripples their economy by founding a religion too early then someone else will beat them to their hero. See also https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/how-good-is-aristocracy-really.320570/ Category:Civic